* En anglais uniquement
Britain's
Cambridge Singers, prolific and commercially successful, are among the best-known choral ensembles of the contemporary era. They were founded by composer
John Rutter primarily as a vehicle for recording his music, although the group has also performed other music.
Rutter established the
Cambridge Singers in 1981, drawing on the membership of the
Clare College Choir at Cambridge University, where he had been the director from 1975 to 1979. He augmented this core with other singers who had been choral scholars at major British universities. Although the
Cambridge Singers have given live performances,
Rutter intended them as a recording ensemble, and he formed Collegium Records in 1984 as a vehicle for recordings of the group. At the time, small independent labels devoted to choral music were still fairly rare. The debut
Cambridge Singers recording, featuring
Fauré's Requiem, was a critical success. Also in 1984,
Rutter and the
Cambridge Singers issued Gloria: The Sacred Music of John Rutter (
reissued in 2005), and as
Rutter's popularity grew, with choral music at the center of his output, it was the
Cambridge Singers who were heard on the recordings that made him internationally famous. The group has spawned several impressive solo vocal careers, including those of tenor
Mark Padmore and baritone
Gerald Finley.
The
Cambridge Singers have recorded various works not by
Rutter, both with
Rutter and with others as conductor; in 2016 they were heard on a
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recording of
Gustav Holst's The Planets, conducted by
Owain Arwel Hughes. They have even crossed into the pop sphere with appearances on several albums by the electronic ensemble
Mannheim Steamroller. The
Cambridge Singers have been extremely prolific, often releasing two or three albums per year in the 1990s and 2000s decades. They also released a new recording of
Rutter's Requiem, paired with a new work, Visions, in 2016.